Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today congratulated three players from the State - Suman Beck, Pratap Lakra and Sudeep Chirmako – who were selected in Indian Junior Men’s Team for the upcoming 8 Nation U-21 tournament to be played in Spain from June 10.

Hockey India on Tuesday named the 18-member Indian Junior Men’s Team for the 8 Nation Under-21 Tournament in Spain.

Congratulate hockey players from #Odisha, Suman Beck (Vice Captain), Pratap Lakra and Sudeep Chirmako for making it to under-21 Indian team for eight-nation tournament to be played in Spain from June 10. Best wishes to the team. #OdishaForSportshttps://t.co/rDGtphrEIt

The teams in fray for top honours include the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, hosts Spain and India.

The Indian Junior Men’s Team will be Captained by Mandeep Mor and Vice Captained by Suman Beck. The goalkeepers named for this Tournament are Prashant Kumar Chauhan and Pawan while defenders named are Mandeep Mor, Pratap Lakra, Sanjay, Akashdeep Singh Junior, Suman Beck and Parampreet Singh.

Speaking about the team selection, David John, Director, High Performance said, “Some of the players have had good international exposure and I am hopeful that the 8 Nations U-21 Tournament will further their experience of playing quality teams at high intensity. This will be quite a challenging tournament given the teams participating in it and I believe the tournament will give us an understanding of where we stand in terms of our preparations for the Junior World Cup in 2021.”